Minor Notes.
Curious Epitaph.—In the Diary of Thomas Moore, Charles Lamb is said at a certain dinner party to have "quoted an epitaph by Clio Rickman, in which, after several lines in the usual jog-trot style of epitaph, he continued thus:
'He well perform'd the husband's, father's part,
And knew immortal Hudibras by heart.'"
There is an epitaph in the churchyard of Newhaven, Sussex, in which the last of these two lines occurs, but which does not answer in other respects to the character of the one quoted by Lamb. On the contrary, it is altogether eminently quaint, peculiar, and consistent. The stone is to the memory of Thomas Tipper, who departed this life May the 14th, 1785, aged fifty-four years; and the upper part is embellished with a representation, in bas-relief, of the drawbridge which crosses the river, whence it might be inferred that the comprehensive genius of Mr. Tipper included engineering and architecture. The epitaph runs thus:
"Reader, with kind regard this grave survey,
Nor heedless pass where Tipper's ashes lay.
Honest he was, ingenuous, blunt and kind,
And dared do what few dare do—speak his mind.
Philosophy and History well he knew,
Was versed in Physick and in Surgery too:
The best old Stingo he both brew'd and sold,
Nor did one knavish act to get his gold.
He play'd through life a varied comic part,
And knew immortal Hudibras by heart.
Reader, in real truth this was the man:
Be better, wiser, laugh more if you can."
Is there any reason for supposing this epitaph to have been written by Clio Rickman; and is anything known of Mr. Tipper beyond the biography of his tombstone?
G. J. De Wilde.
Enigmatical Epitaph.—I offer for solution an enigma, copied from a tomb in the churchyard of Christchurch in Hampshire:
"WE WERE NOT SLAYNE BUT RAYSD;
RAYSD NOT TO LIFE,
BVT TO BE BVRIED TWICE
BY MEN OF STRIFE.
WHAT REST COVLD ᵀᴴ LIVING HAVE,
WHEN DEAD HAD NONE?
AGREE AMONGST YOV,
HERE WE TEN ARE ONE.
HEN. ROGERS DIED APRIL 17, 1641.I. R."
The popular legend is, that the ten men perished by the falling in of a gravel-pit, and that their remains were buried together. This, however, will not account for the "men of strife."
Is it not probable that, in the time of the civil wars, the bodies might have been disinterred for the sake of the leaden coffins, and then deposited in their present resting-place?
The tomb may have been erected some time afterwards by "I. R.," probably a relative of the "Henry Rogers," the date of whose death is commemorated.
T. J.
Bath.
Books worthy to be reprinted (Vol. vii., pp. 153. 203.).—In addition to those previously mentioned in "N. & Q.," there is one for which a crying necessity exists for a new edition, namely, The Complaynt of Scotland. It is often advertised and otherwise sought for; and when found, can only be had at a most extravagant price. It was originally written in 1548; and in 1801, a limited impression, edited by Dr. Leyden, was published; and in 1829, "Critiques upon it by David Herd, and others, with observations in answer by Dr. Leyden," to the number of seventy copies. The Complaynt of Scotland and Sir Tristrem, an edition of which was edited by Sir Walter Scott, and published in 1804, are two of the oldest works of which the literature of Scotland can boast.
Inverness.
Napoleon's Thunderstorm.—The passage of the Niemen by the French army, and its consequent entry on Russian territory, may be said to have been Napoleon's first step towards defeat and ruin. A terrible thunderstorm occurred on that occasion, according to M. Ségur's account of the Russian campaign.
When Napoleon commenced the retreat, by which he yielded all the country beyond the Elbe (and which, therefore, may be reckoned a second step towards his downfall), it was accompanied by a thunderstorm more remarkable from occurring at such a season. Odelben says:
"C'était un phenomène bien extraordinaire dans un pareil saison, et avec le froid qu'on venait d'éprouver," &c.—Odelben, Camp. de 1813, vol. i. p. 289.
The first step towards his second downfall, or third towards complete ruin, was his advance upon the British force at Quatre-Bras, June 17, 1815. This also was accompanied by an awful thunderstorm, which (although gathering all the forenoon) commenced at the very moment he made his attack on the British rear-guard (about two p. m.), when the first gun fired was instantaneously responded to by a tremendous peal of thunder.
Thunder, to Wellington, was the precursor of victory and triumph. Witness the above-mentioned introduction to the victory of Waterloo; the terrible thunder, that scattered the horses of the dragoons, the eve of Salamanca; also, the night preceding Sabugal. And perhaps some of the Duke's old companions in arms may be able to add to the category.
A. C. M.
Exeter.
Istamboul—Constantinople.—Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Wheler, who took holy orders and became rector of Houghton-le-Spring in the diocese of Durham, makes the following remarks in his Journey into Greece, &c. (fol., Lond. 1682), p. 178.:
"Constantinople is now vulgarly called Stambol by the Turks; but by the Greeks more often Istampoli, which must needs be a corruption from the Greek ... either from Constantinopolis, which in process of time might be corrupted into Stanpolis or Istanpoli; or rather, from it being called πόλις κατ' ἐξοχήνο. For the Turks, hearing the Greeks express their going to Constantinople by εἰς τὴν πόλιν, which they pronounce Is-tin-polin, and often for brevity's sake Stinpoli, might soon ignorantly call it Istanpoli or Stambol, according as either of them came into vogue first. And therefore I think theirs is a groundless fancy who fetch it from the Turkish word Istamboal, which signifies a city full of or abounding in the true faith, the name being so apparently of Greek original."
W. S. G.
Newcastle-on-Tyne.